Face-to-face , first and second term, 30 hours of exercises.

Dutch (some texts or activities can exceptionally be proposed in English).

The seminar's an invitation for students to “break out of the educational routine”. They are to partake in intellectual activities happening outside University and to observe the political and other situations in which they are engaged, to which they are committed, while learning to consider those as being part of their larger intellectual trajectory. Indeed, the seminar wants to convince students of the benefits that can be drawn from the knowledge already acquired at University for life outside of it, and vice versa, of the value of outside commitments and explorations for their higher educational training.

The novelty consists of basing the seminar on activities and events that are not planned for by the University, at least not in the usual educational sense. These activities or events can be: parliamentary debates, conferences, documentary screenings, visits, observations of demonstrations or other collective actions, and so on. These are all activities that can be considered “hors programme” and that, nevertheless, will be the vortex of the seminar.

For the Bachelor in Information and Communication :

For the Bachelor in Political Sciences: General :

For the Bachelor in Sociology and Anthropology :

For the Bachelor in Information and Communication :

For the Bachelor in Political Sciences: General :

For the Bachelor in Sociology and Anthropology :

Students may chose one out of five themes, each led by one teacher: “Media, Europe and citizenship” (M. Du- frasne); “Conflict management and peace work” (A.-A. Fournier); “Cultural Practices” (J. Rodriguez); “Political parties and communication” (C. Xhardez); “Oral histories and social sciences” (B. Zitouni) [the last theme will be taught in Dutch, activities will be bilingual - cf POLS1254.]

All the themes are multidisciplinary. During the introductory session, students will be assigned to their thematic group according to their personal preferences and available spaces in each group. [Students enrolled in the bilingual or trilingual program will automatically be assigned to the Dutch-speaking group].

Three ingredients will guide the thematic exploration throughout the academic year. First, there's the vortex or the so-called “hors programme” activities, already mentioned. Second there are the debriefing sessions, prepared for by the group and led by the teacher in order to fully understand the implications of each activity. Third, there's the transversal exercise related to the theme, meant to help students focus on a practical task and, in this way, to experience what they are learning in the seminar.

The assessment will take the following into account:
- Participation to the activities of the thematic group, both its intensity and its quality (10%);
- Writing of intermediate reports based on an analysis of the activity in relation to the debriefing session and the related reading material (60%);
- Accomplishment of the transversal exercise, to be decided upon by each group's teacher (30%).

To be determined by each group's teacher.

The course's website on eSaintLouis provides the students with all required information - the teachers will hand out a reading file for each group. Students must subscribe to the website a.s.a.p.